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On Hearth’s Warming Eve, Princess Celestia has always spent the night alone in her private study, allowing the castle staff and most of the guards time to spend with their loved ones on this night of friendship and family. Tonight is different ·Georg

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Finding herself unable to sleep, Princess Celestia occupies her mind by penning a letter to Twilight Sparkle. But for a weary princess, the mind has a tendency to wander... (Now with dramatic reading!) ·Pale Horse

"Hi everypony! Sorry I missed you. I'm away in Canterlot for a few days. If you need help finding a book, Spike will be happy to assist. Library hours are 9 -5. Thanks! See you all then!

- Twilight Sparkle"

On a trip to Canterlot to attend to some royal business, Twilight Sparkle learns more about kindness and forgiveness than she expected. Contemplation, melancholy, and a richly detailed world. An oldie-but-goodie from the early days of the community; please note that this has not been updated to reflect subsequent character development from Season 2.

Oh, I'm glad to see this fic here on FimF! I remember reading this a while back, and while it isn't extremely pony per se, the mood is absolutely sublime. I have a hard time evaluating what I really think about this story because it doesn't really read like a traditional story to me. I just put eyes upon paper (well, monitor) and disappear.

Okay. I know there's something wrong with me. How did i not find this story earlier? TwilightFlopple, this story... It has affected me, and i'm not sure how to put this. I wouldn't say inspired so much, but more like invigorated me. Not sure what has been invigorated, but i believe if i had a single guess, that i saw a lot of Twilight's doubt in myself, and now that story has rid me of all doubt in myself as a result. I guess i was stuck in a funk of sorts, and this story has broken me out of it. I feel better now than i've felt in probably two weeks or so, and wish to thank you.

I wasn't sure what to think in the beginning of this story, but now i'm pretty damn sure. These ~16k words are among the best i've read. This story has left me relatively speechless. There are some things i'd love to say though. Your attention to detail is absolutely magnificent, and you paint a most beautiful picture in my mind for each little scene, action, and whatnot. Your flow is right up there with detail, just smooth and graceful. I don't know how long it took to get this story to what it is, but whatever time you spent on it was well spent indeed.

About half way through, I tried to spot errors, but failed to spot even a single one. Call me a narcissist, or whatever else, if you will, but when something seems perfect i take it as a challenge to find a flaw. I hadn't found one. This only made me happier as i couldn't find anything. This is as close to a perfect story as i've ever read. This is definitely going up on my favorites list. Have a thumb and watch while i'm at it too. You definitely deserve them, and much more. I don't say this often other than when it's necessary, if at all, but i wish to sincerely thank you for writing this story. If i'm being honest here; I feel like i'm not offering anything in return for having read your story. These words are all i really have to offer and it doesn't feel like it's enough.

Look at this, yet another massive wall for a comment. Oh well. *sigh* This is about as small as i can get it.

Hi there! I'm very glad that you enjoyed "Twilight Sky". It's getting pretty old by Brony community standards now, but while converting the Google doc to FiMfic format, I was struck by how well much of it has stood up. Many before you have also been moved by this story, and I was the first, having written it in a long fit of frenzied activity. Many others have also had trouble putting into words what they got out of the story, and I've hit that wall too, having been asked to summarize or synopsize its rambling narrative to submit to sites such as this. So thank you for reading, feeling, and sharing. It isn't an easy story, but i'm glad you and others continue to find it to be one well worth the experience, and I'm glad it moved and inspired you too.

Hi there! Thanks for reading. It isn't an easy story to write a reaction to, so thank you for your comment. :) I'm glad it moved you. It's great to know this artifact from the bad old days of the fandom still works so well. ^_^

Twenty months later - Celestia only knows how many fanfics consumed in the interim - and this strange and otherworldly piece still casts a midnight spell every time I read it. I truly believe it is the highest piece of art the fandom has ever produced.

I am struggling for the words that will convince you my feelings are born not of ignorance or hyperbole or lack of experience, but of simple truth.

Thank you! ^_^ I know you're speaking truthfully. I know you're not the only one out there who feels this way, too.

Although the fic was just recently rendered obsolete due to events in "Magic Duel" - and silly me expected Trixie to return in season one! - I think it still works remarkably well as a dreamscape of Equestria with a big dash of wish fulfillment and longing thrown in. I hope it continues to be read and enjoyed for a long time.

When I review stories, I tend to put a lot of weight on the accuracy of the characters. Meaning, how closely the actions of the canonical characters match what I would expect from them in the situation presented. Obviously, this is a very subjective metric. I sometimes wonder whether I harp on it too much, but I do think it's probably the most important quantifiable aspect of fanfiction. It's important to me when I'm reading a work of fan fiction that the work respects the preexisting investment in the characters that gives it an advantage over standalone works in vying for my attention. All of this is a particularly roundabout way of explaining why I was more worried about how this story would portray Luna than the fact that it's plot is technically invalidated by "Magic Duel". After all, read enough fanfic, and you can't help but take hundreds of disparate continuities in stride. But characters, they are the constant. The anchor that makes those connection to the source worthwhile.

So, enough with that, what did I actually think? That it was pretty good. At first glance it seemed to be the sad-quiet-Luna that prevailed before "Luna Eclipsed", but aside from the lack of the royal Canterlot voice, (which... I'm okay with) I think it's actually not far off the mark. She's still insecure about ponies relationship with her night, and Twilight's interest is exactly what she's looking for. Perhaps she's a little too wise and calm to be the post "Eclipsed" Luna, but then we see her room full of stickers and it's beautiful, and I wonder if I've put too much weight into strict adherence. Speaking of which, dream walking! That's totally canon now!

And speaking of that, I don't usually enjoy fictional dream sequences, either for being too real, or too poetic. This one, though, made me feel things. I've found that reading these stories (meaning, fimfics) has made me question the importance of feeling things. For a fairly long time, I didn't think it was very important. All that was important was what got accomplished. Tangible things. But since FiM, I've found myself reading things because I want to know how it feels. I've often found it odd that a lot of fics characterize Twilight as being sort of adrift in an ocean of emotions. Very much not in control of herself. I'm not sure why I found this odd now. It really is central to her character and her fairly frequent nervous breakdowns. I guess I just projected a bit. Either way, that passage had me lusting after boozy sleep, and the unrestrained openness therein. Not enough that I'd actually consider subjecting myself to booze though.

I liked how really seriously this story took the concept of "slice of life". The story didn't permanently orbit a single significant event or location, but simply passed through the series of things that happened over the course of a couple days. Twilight had a job to do, and handled it during the day, and did what she would with leisure time. Not everything had to be strictly relevant, but everything still influenced what followed, and the resolution with Trixie at the end lent a sense of cohesion to the proceeding events that hadn't been clear before.

In case I haven't made any kind of clear review of the actual story in all of that rambling, (which I've occasionally done, and left some confusion) I thought this was beautiful. Would recommend.

I gained so much by reading this 2/3 of the way through when it was first published, yet it isn't quite the story I vaguely remember which helped me cope with some hard things from my past. This time, reading it on a dumbphone as a simple .txt file, I found a different sort of peace and wonder, and a joy through the ending I had forgotten was possible.

I will say that it hurts to have a friend who needs, but not many of us are the protegees of princesses.

Considering how old this is, it still feels extraordinarily in character for pretty much everyone. It's also beautifully written - I started reading and was just completely immersed from start to finish within it. It just flows. There aren't many fics on this site that are so pleasant to read, rather than just an interesting premise or plot.